What is the worst weather that you have ever skied in ?

[loafer89]

For me it is hands down at Sugarloaf in January, 1998. My wife and I were there during the worst ice storm in Maine History.

The weather was extremely wierd, with heavy rain and 50F + temps above the Superquad, and 17F and heavy freezing rain and sleet at our condo

I remember skiing in 6" + of pure sleet on Scoot, Glancer and Windrow, a very queer feeling beneath my skii's. I came into our condo encased in some much ice I could hardly move.

100,000 National Guardsman were out in Maine/ New England, so we were not allowed to leave Sugarloaf for a few days afterward.

 

[awf170]

at jay peak a few years ago... after a 75 degree day it dropped to like 0 the next day. before that i never knew it was possible to be absoluty frozen on a T-bar

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

3 years ago at Whiteface, early April. Beautiful warm spring day on Sat., but that night around 5 above 0. Next day, windy, cold, gray, sheer ice and chicken heads.

 

[awf170]

3 years ago at Whiteface, early April. Beautiful warm spring day on Sat., but that night around 5 above 0. Next day, windy, cold, gray, sheer ice and chicken heads.

hey i think ur talkin about the same weekend as me...wierd

 

[Treeliner]

For me it probably would've been a couple weeks ago at Whistler. It was a sunny gorgeous morning, but in the afternoon clouds came in and we had zero visibility with heavy rain and 40+ mph winds.

 

[skibum1321]

I would have to say in the pouring rain about 4 or 5 times this past fall...or maybe it was the -75 at the summit the past couple winters. Personally I think the rain is worse though

 

[snowsprite]

I have skiied in absolute driving rain before. So much in fact that I had to wring out my pig-tails. And a LOT of water came out! :lol:

I also skiied at Sugarbush about 2 years ago and it was 30 below zero. That was an otherworldly experience. But very enjoyable nonetheless. I think I had on every layer I owned. My face was completely covered...not one inch of exposed skin. So it was actually okay.

Sprite

 

[riverc0il]

man, not even i will ski in bad weather. cold weather maybe, but even then...

 

[loafer89]

You mean there is fair weather skiing to be had in New England? :lol: :wink:

When we were skiing at Sugarloaf in February, it was snowing above 3,000' and raining at the base.

My son was in a group lesson in the rain having a blast, I could hardly get him to end the day

Me, I was enjoying laps on White Nitro with 3" of nice wet powder snow to make turns in.

Sometimes the worse the weather is, the better the skiing, ie, no crowds and the determination to have fun anyway.

 

[awf170]

Me, I was enjoying laps on White Nitro with 3" of nice wet powder snow to make turns in.

nice wet powder, a term only used by easterners :lol: in the east if it is snow it is powder...

 

[loafer89]

Actually, I was being nice because it was more like Elmers Glue :lol:

But it made for great turns on Nitro and interesting conversations with the lifty at the base of the Superquad when I came down in the rain covered in snow.

 

[riverc0il]

You mean there is fair weather skiing to be had in New England?

over half my days this year featured "great" ski weather with at least 1/4 being in the oft cited "blue bird" catagory. of the other half, most were simply overcast. this year featured an amazing quantity of GREAT weather weekends, really good year for weekend weather. new england isn't all that bad.

 

[loafer89]

I agree with you about this year having great weekend weather. Our first three days in Maine in February were VERY warm with 50f+ weather at Sugarloaf, even at the summit with bluebird skies.

Killington was fabulous in April with not a cloud in the sky when I went and 40's temps.

I just don't care if I ski in rain,ice or snow so long as I am on ski's.

 

[NHpowderhound]

Gee whiz,as a Wildcat,Cannon,Jay Peak,Mount Washington skier, I've skied in some pretty fierce conditions.Some that come to mind today are getting into the old Wildcat gondola and having the liftie putting cement cinderblocks in it to keep it(with me) from swinging off the cable ,then getting out and having to push myself down Upper Catapult.
Two years ago at Jay the air temp was -25F with 35+MPH winds. They closed the Flyer,Tram & Jet but had the Bonny open. I had fresh windpacked all to myself, but the snow was soooo abrasive because of the extreme cold it was like skiing on styrofoam. Still unbelivably fun! With a very short hike you could ski Beaver Pond,BBP,Everglade,Staircase,North Glade...and NOBODY was in them. Fresh tracks each run with total solitude, but I was a popsicle after each lift hop from the Metro back to the Bonny.
Skiing on MW has left me with several occasions that gave me the sensation of wanting to vomit becase of such extreme cold! No joke.
On another occasion I hiked up with a friend to camp at Hermit Lake Shelters in February in a driving rainstorm. Once we got to the shelter the temps plummeted from 40F to -10 by the AM when we miraculously awoke alive! It was actually pretty neat that every piece of gear we had that was wet, now had sheets of ice on it we could just shake off and have it fairly dry! I love winter camping!
((*
*))NHPH

 

[Rushski]

Let's see, Cannon suffering second degree frostbite twice? Killington in the pooring rain?

No, it was probably Attitash in 2002. Started off up 93 bright and early, light rain in N. Mass. Once past Concard, NH it went to freezing rain, than snow, then freezing rain, then snow. Cars off both sides of the highway. Friend and his truck's 4WD got us to Cannon with high winds and freezing rain/snow mix. Cannon was closed! They don't do that very often. Was supposed to meet my bro, but he obiously had headed home after getting there before us. He had seen a couple instructors off the road on the way to skiing as well. Round the corner (relatively speaking) and Bretton Woods looked pretty good - mostly snowing. But decided to venture up the road to Attitash. Forgot my poles, borrowed from one of my two skiing companinions that day as they decided to rent boards instead. Raining all day. Medium thick, wet mashed potatoes is the only way to describe the 8" deep wet, slushy snow we endured that day. Rained all day, no one there, most lifts closed. I quit at about 1:30 and the other two got on their skis and suffered for another hour.

What should have been about 2:45 of driving each way was closer to four hours. One of the few days I would have actually rather been at work...

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

Monsoon rain, bitter cold, Freezing rain, howling winds certainly have made skiing interesting for me. By far the scariest was 15 years ago.

1991 I had just graduated from College and gotten married the year before, so I had zero money for skiing. My first turns of the season were in the chute in early February. There was about 5" of fresh and the Avi danger was Low, but it was snowing steady. The first run was not bad. We hiked back up and just as we got into the throat of the chute, the visability went to zero.

We hiked a little more, hoping it would blow through. "Crack! BOOM!" It sounded like the entire Bigalow Lawn had broken free above us. Absolutely deafening. Time to make like a bakery truck and haul buns.

I've never gotten my skis off my bpack and on my feet as fast, before or since. My two companions were on boards, but were close behind when we hit the flats going into the Connection towards the Little Headwall.

We stopped for a second to look and see if we could see where it had slid. A bright flash lit the ravine and another deafening "Boom!"

Nothing like a February Thunder Squall to raise your heart rate a little

 

[thetrailboss]

Worst weather, well in terms of Cold it must be the January 2004 outing to Sugarbush. One of the few times when my hands were getting numb on the liftride. Cold day.

In terms of rain, I skied through a very rainy day at the Middlebury College Snowbowl with a buddy of mine in February 2000. Midd, my alma mater, was having the annual Winter Carnival and a majority of the races were cancelled/delayed due to rain so nobody was up there (during my time at Midd, Winter Carnival equaled the week when you COULD COUNT ON rain, warm temps, and bad skiing). The trails were rivers in many places and my Gore Tex worked pretty well, but it was not fun. How does one wipe their goggles in the rain? No crowds at least and the snow was soft.

 

[Greg]

I recall a day back in the mid 90's at Mount Snow on Exhibition where the visibility was so bad, that I could only see one turn in front of me. Not fun.

 

[thetrailboss]

Yeah, I hate bad visibility. There have been many days of poor visibility due to snowmaking, rain, fog, clouds, blowing snow, snow, etc. I can remember a few nasty days on the top of Mt Ellen...

 

[dmc]

On nasty days and powder days... ALWAYS carry extra goggles and something cotton to wipe them clean...

DMC's tip of the day...